Project: Progress, Green 1998 XJ Sport 4door, 4.0, AX-15, NP231, Dana 30 & 35
 

Hey guys,

I just wanted to throw up the start of my build, Project Progress.

I bought my 1998 XJ about 6 months ago, it had about 137k on it when I got it and is now coming up on 150k.

I searched for about 3-4 months to find a five speed in my area that wasn't rusted out. I turned down ALOT of Cherokees that that were just too rusted, I'm in the rust belt area and it sucks if your trying to find an older car around here (St.L)

So here are a few pics of the Jeep shortly after I got it, It did not come with the roof rack, I picked that up shortly after purchase:Attachment 25206

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Just some light wheeling, I didn't have any recovery gear with me or any other trucks around and did not want to strand myself.

Forgot to mention, It didn't come with the All-Terrains, there 30x9.50, I picked up a full size as well.

Then I decided to Herculine the sides and remove the plastic paneling and flares. I'm really happy with the outcome, and I cant say enough good things about Herculiner, It covers really well.
I did that mainly to ensure that I wouldn't rust. Also, its a ***** to keep the rockers clean.
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Found a rust hole underneath the rear plastic bumper cover after I removed it. I recommend everyone to do this, as I wouldn't have found the rust without doing so. I was upset at the time, but ended up cutting it out and filling it and it wasn't a big deal. Covered it with Herc and you cant even tell now.

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Also threw on some KC's to the jankedey brush guard until I can replace it and put on a proper bumper. And picked up a new head unit.

Theres a few more mods Ive done, but thats it for now.

I plan on doing a 3 inch lift, probably RE, and eventually 31's. Also grabbing a locker for the rear, skids, sliders and proper bumpers with a swing away. I have a lot of other stuff in mind but thats the major stuff for now.

Thanks for looking, I love this forum and have been going to it long before I bought the Jeep. Always helpful scrolling through here.

Looks great. Nice to see you testing it the day of purchase!! Ill be throwing some herculiner on the inside of my 99 XJ quite soon. Any tips to make the process a bit easier?

Thanks a lot, and it wasn't the day of purchase when I took it out, but not long after. Right after I got it I went through all the fluids, got the tires and the rack to take it on a trip to Wyoming (about 3000 miles round trip) and it did great. That was this winter.

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And for the Herculiner, I do have a few tips:
1. WEAR GLOVES! Sounds simple and it was stupid of me not to do it, but I got the stuff everywhere. All over my hands, arms, legs, neck and it took about 3-4 days to come off. Got a lot of weird looks at work.
2. If you have to tape anywhere and you want your lines to look really sharp, remove the tape while its still wet. I waited a little long and my lines could be better.
Other than that, just prep like it says on the can and you'll be aces.

So a few months ago I found some sliders on craigslist for 50 bucks. They were a little rough and I'm not sure who even made them, but for $50 I couldn't pass them up.
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Also ordered a x-treme HiLift jack from amazon, with off road base and the rubber piece that keeps the handle from rattling against the Jack.
This thing is beast. I haven't ever seen one in person and I guess I never realized how big they are. I will eventually throw it up on the roof rack.

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Ive since Herc'd the sliders and installed them, and went to go test them out at an off road park last weekend. Ill post pics of the trip in the next day or so.

Other than that the only things I've had to do to the Jeep have been replacing a gasket where the oil filter adapter bolts to the block as it was leaking.

The air conditioning doesn't work any more, I need to replace the compressor and a line, but summers almost over so I'm going to spend my money elsewhere for now.

Also the rear main seal and valve cover leak a little bit, but not horribly.

The power door locks have also been giving me issues lately, from what I understand its probably a grounding issue in the driver door.

The driver side speaker doesn't work either, I've pulled the door panel, and switched the speaker with the passenger side one and the speaker works. I had both speakers working for about 20 minutes and then the driver quit on me again.

Very frustrating, but not too serious of repairs. I'm just really not a fan of electrical work. Ill get to it sooner or later.

Oh, I know I also forgot to mention, but it came with a K&N cold air which was nice.

Other than that, Ill be posting pics of the wheeling trip soon.
Thanks for looking!

-Alex

Nice build so far!

I noticed we live pretty close to each other. I'm right across the river in Collinsville

Thanks man, and yeah not too far away, I go to school in Columbia and when I'm here ill sometimes roll down to Potowatami (sp?) off road park which is in Fulton. When I'm in St.L me and a few friends try and make a few trips a year to the current river and Flat Nasty off road park. Those are about the only parks I really know of in the area.

Heres some shots from a few weekends ago at Potowatami with the sliders installed. I know the photo quality isn't the best but I figured its better than nothing.
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Those were just a few of the better photos, sliders took a beating on some parts and held up well, definatly not bad for $50.

There were a few open areas where people run around with quads and dirt bikes, and some of the bigger trucks run through mud holes.

I'm not normally big on mud, buuuuut I saw an old Chevy on about 35's run through this roughly 75ft stretch off mud that was pretty rutted out.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make it through, but you never know till you try right? And I had my buddy's blazer for recovery if need be sooooo.....

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Yeah I got stuck, lol. I hit it with some speed in hopes to have enough momentum to get through, and sure enough, ruts were too deep and I slid about 15ft on my axles before I came to a stop. Took quite a few hard pulls from the blazer in 4low to get me out, but after a few tugs I was free to wheel for a bit more.

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Updates
 

Been a while since I've updated anything on here but I have been busy, I just don't like dealing with uploading photos and whatnot.

Here are a few shots of my progress, enjoy:

Picked up a JCR pre-runner style bumper with D-ring brackets, side protection, unibody tie-ins and fog light cut outs, Painted wheels and built a mount for the roof spare.

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more
 

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Spare mount a friend and I put together, let me know if anyone has any questions, also got one for the Hi-lift, no pics of that directly tho

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And the big thing, Rustys 3 inch, also picked up a factory front skid and tcase skid, oh and new sliders to replace the ones I originally put on that were awful.

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And a few test flex pics after install.

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few others
 

Install went about as good as it could have gone. Ran into the standard issues, brake line, shock bolts, and just corrosion being awful as usual.

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Love the last pic, looks like it is taking a bow. Nice looking XJ:thumbup1:

That's the major stuff, a few other things, I picked up rough country quick disco's, replaced motor mounts, had to repair a few things I damaged wheeling, and I still haven't gotten my new sliders on. Trying to get everything done before winter. We'll See how it goes.

Thanks for checkin everything out.

-Alex